Game 51 - Yanks Walk Out of Cleveland With Win

With Chien-Ming Wang pitching decently in relief and Phil Hughes coming into his own, the "Joba to the bullpen" fanatics started circling their wagons again.  In response, Joba Chamberlain came out and threw a career-high 8 innings, limiting Cleveland to 2 runs on 4 hits with 5 Ks in the 5-2 victory.  Who still wants Joba in the bullpen now?  Joba came out with ace-like stuff, flashing all 4 of his pitches as he was perfect for the first 3 frames.   In the 4th, he made his only real mistake of the night when he surrendered a solo homer to Victor Martinez, tying the game at 1.  

The play of the game came in the 5th, with Joba showing off his catlike reflexes.  He turned a Kelly Shoppach popup bunt into a highlight play, going full out on a dive (Joe Girardi characterized it as a bellyflop) and miraculously speared the ball as he hit the turf.  Runners were on 1st and 2nd, no out, and as he caught the ball, he jumped up and threw a strike to Derek Jeter to double up the runner.  

The Yankee hitters almost didn't provide Joba any support tonight.  Going into the top of the 6th, they loaded the bases on 3 walks with none out.  ARod, Posada and Cano were coming to the plate.  They all failed miserably and all runners were stranded.  ARod struck out.  Posada, after blowing yesterday's game, promptly swung at the first pitch and tapped back weakly to the mound, forcing the runner at home.  And, to finish off the humiliation, Cano lined out to left to end the inning.  

In the top of the 7th, like deja vu all over again, they loaded the bases on 3 walks.  With one out, Nick Swisher, batting in the 2-hole with Johnny Damon resting, ripped an opposite field double to left that just missed a grand slam by a foot.  After an intentional walk to Tex to reload the bases, ARod hit a 2-run single to finish up the Yankees scoring.  The Indians walked the Yanks 11 times tonight and the score could have been much worse, if the Yanks had come through with all of their opportunities.  They were 3-13 with runners in scoring position, and with Posada failing in yesterday's loss, I hope this doesn't start becoming a trend like earlier in the season.  They've been playing exceptionally well for the better part of a month now and cannot let up, playing in the brutal AL East.  

The Yanks defense went errorless tonight for the 18th straight game, setting a major league record, and to make it sweeter, broke the 2006 Red Sox record.  Joba wasn't the only pitcher to make an outstanding play tonight, either.  On the final batter of the game, Mariano Rivera fielded a Baltimore-chop over his head from Shin-Soo Choo and threw him out by a step at first for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.  With tonight's win, the Yanks gained a half game over the idle Red Sox.

Yankees Record:  30-21